Expectations, Burma case derail FTA
Business Mirror | Monday, 28 December 2009
Expectations, Burma case derail FTA
Written by Estrella Torres / Reporter
EXTREMELY high expectations on Europe’s part and the continuing political turmoil in the military-ruled Burma have caused major hurdles in the proposed free-trade deals being negotiated by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) with the European Union (EU), Canada and the United States.
An official of the Asean secretariat in Jakarta said the negotiations with the EU had been halted due to Europe’s high level of ambition on the degree of liberalization it demands from the Asean members, which includes recalcitrant Burma.
“The EU did not show any sign of sensitivity to the Asean because it wants specific commitments,” said Anna Robeniol, head of the external economic relations division of the Asean secretariat in Jakarta.
She said the EU should accept that Asean is composed of 10 countries with different levels of economic development and political conditions.
The EU has been negotiating only with seven members and excluded in particular Burma, renamed Myanmar by its military rulers, because it has not complied with its commitment to put the country on track toward democracy.
Europe has also included in the bilateral partnership agreement with Asean members the need to ratify the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court that punishes war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity, seen as another high hurdle in relation to Burma.
Instead, Robeniol said the EU has been doing a “scoping study” on Asean members to reach a degree of leverage and possibly move toward a free-trade deal. The EU has been negotiating bilaterally with Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.
Meanwhile, she said the US government also does not want to negotiate a free-trade deal with the Asean as long as its serious concerns on the atrocities in Burma are not erased.
Washington has existing Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFA) with Asean members like the Philippines but could not pursue trade engagement in the form of an FTA with the regional bloc since it would require US Congress approval, seen to be dim again due to the Burmese situation.
“Right now, its easier for the US to engage in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation [Apec] because most of the Asean members are already there,” said Robeniol.
The 21 Apec member-economies are planning to adopt a comprehensive Asia-Pacific FTA to facilitate trade and investments along the Pacific rim.
Robeniol said that Canada is also constrained to negotiate a free-trade agreement with Asean members due to its similar serious concerns on the atrocities in Burma.
She said the negotiations for the Asean-Canada TIFA has been very slow. “The proposed TIFA between Asean and Canada has been drafted for the last two or three years but both panels cannot convene a senior officials’ meeting to discuss that because Canada also has a problem on the Myanmar situation.”
The Asean is set to implement by January 1, 2010 the Asean trade in goods agreement (Atiga) that eliminates tariffs in more than 90 per cent of products being traded within the region. The deal signed in November 2007 is an amendment of the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) signed in 1993.
